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THE LITTLE 
TIN SOLDIER 

The little tin soldier had only one leg. but 
he was a true soldier at heart. He had so 
many adventures that they fill all this 
book, and he was just as brave as could be 
in every one of them. 

The lovely pictures are by Nardini 

And the book has been made for you by MAXTON 

MAXTON PUBLISHING CORPORATION 
New York 




Once upon a time, there was a little boy who was given the 
most wonderful present for his birthday. This was a box of 
tin soldiers. There were no less than twenty-five soldiers 
in the box, and they were all brothers. They had been made, 
you see, from the same old tin spoon. 

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“What a grand birthday 
present!” cried the boy, 
as he took the soldiers 
out of their box. “Why, 
they are all exactly the 
same— all except this 
one.” And he stared at 
the soldier who was not 
like any of his brothers 
—for he had only one leg. 

“But he really stands 
as firmly as the others,” 
thought the little boy, 
as he set them all out on 
the table. 

Now, as well as all the 
tin soldiers, there was 
a pretty cardboard castle 
which had a lovely blue 
lake. Round this lake, 
which was really only a 
mirror, stood some tiny, 
very pretty trees. 



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But in the eyes of the one-legged tin 
soldier, the prettiest thing of all was 
the little dancing girl. She was also 
cut out of cardboard, but her dress was 
of a most wonderful softness, and there 
was a golden star at her waist. 

“How beautiful she is,” sighed the tin 
soldier. “She is just the wife for me.” 
Then he thought that perhaps she, too, 
had but one leg for he did not know that 
being a dancer she could balance on one 
toe for just as long as she wanted to. 
And he grew more fond of her than ever. 
























In the morning, the boy found the 
tin soldier still standing stiff and 
straight, and he stood him up on the 
window ledge. 

But Suddenly, and all at once, the 
window flew open, and down fell 
the tin soldier, head first. 

Down and down and down he 
dropped, and he was spinning round 
and round as he fell. 

The boy rushed down to search 
for him, but the tin soldier with one 
leg did not cry out for help because 
he was in uniform. 

“I must be very brave,” he told 
himself. 


The boy searched for a long time because he did not 
want to lose one of his twenty-five tin soldiers. And 
when he found a long stick, he began to prod the grass 
with it. 

The little tin soldier could have called out, “Here I 
am,” but he did not. “Soldiers in uniform never cry 
out,” he thought, and he stayed very still and quiet. 

Then, at last, the boy went away. The soldier was all 
alone and still standing upright in the earth. 









huge everything is!” 
as soon as the boy 
“How tiny I must be. 
And here I am all by myself 
in this hig world.” 

But though he was afraid, 
he did not show it. Nor did 
he move. Then it began to 
rain and a big raindrop just 
like a big teardrop fell on his 
bright blue uniform. 



As soon as the rain was nearly 
over along came two ragged little 
boys. And they spotted the tin 
soldier at once. 

“Look!” cried one. “There’s a 
tin soldier. Let’s give him a 
sail.” 

And they made a paper boat 
and put the soldier in it. 




The brave tin soldier did not 
blink an eye, but he wondered to 
himself just where he would get 
to as the boat sped along, and 
he wished, yes, he wished that 
the lovely dancing girl might 
be beside him. For then he felt 
he would mind nothing at all. 




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The boat tossed from 
side to side as it went 
hurrying along. It even 
started to go round and 
round in circles, until it 
shot into a long, dark 
tunnel of water. 

This made the soldier 
feel quite seasick, but 
he still stood stiff and 
straight just the same. 
And he kept both eyes to 
the front like all good 
soldiers do. 

Now this water tunnel 
ran the whole way under 
the road and it happened 
to be the home of two or 
three fierce water-rats. 

As soon as they spied 
the little soldier in his 
paper boat they wanted 
to know about him. 

“Stop there! Stop!” they 
ordered harshly. 



'‘We want to see your passport! Show us your passport!” 
the biggest of the water-rats demanded. 

“But I have no passport,” said the tin soldier, and how glad 
he was when the current carried him away out of reach. 





The dark water swept him along, 
faster and faster. 

“My goodness me...!” the little 
tin soldier thought to himself. 

“Whatever is going to happen to 
me next?” For now he saw ahead 
of him a patch of light, but the 
boat was rocking so much that he 
almost fell overboard. 



■ 4 


There was a loud, rushing noise as the 
boat was whirled into the deep waters of 
the canal. 

The brave soldier held himself as stiff 
and straight as he could, but the little 
paper boat was sinking down and down. 

“Never again shall I see my lady of the 
castle,” he told himself, as all at once 
the boat fell apart, and he found himself 
face to face with an enormous fish. 

“Nothing can save me now!” he cried, as 
he saw its great big eyes and its open 
mouth waiting to receive him. 








Oh, but how black it 
was inside that fish. 
And how narrow it was ! 
But never for a moment 
did the brave soldier 
try to make life more 
comfortable. He kept 
himself just as stiff as 
though he had been on 
guard duty. 

The fish sprang this 
way and that. Then all 
of a sudden it did not 
jump any more. 

“Aha,” cried the old 
fisherman, as he began 
to pull strongly on his 
line. “I’ve caught a fish 
of some size here. This 
is going to please the 
wife.” 

So he quickly put an 
end to the fish, then 
put it in his basket, 
and carried it home. 





“I’ll take it to the market 
right away,” said his wife as 
soon as she saw the fish. 

But soon after she had sold 
it, along came a servant from 
one of the big houses. 

“Here you are, ma’am,” said 
the fishmonger. “Here’s the 
very fish for you.” 

“Yes, it looks fresh enough,” 
said the servant. 

And, not bargaining at all, 
she put the fish in her basket, 
and went back home. 



As soon as the servant began cutting up the fish 
she felt something hard inside. 

“Come quickly,” she called to the little boy of 
the house. “Here is a very strange thing.” And 
she pulled out the one-legged tin soldier. 

“It’s mine! It’s mine!” cried the little boy. 





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Then he began to call 
out with delight at his 
luck in finding his old 
tin soldier again. 

And the little soldier 
could hardly believe in 
his good fortune. There 
he was back in the very 
same room he had left. 

The boy put him on the 
shelf above the fire so 
as to dry quickly. From 
there, the soldier saw 
all his own friends and 
the castle. How his heart 
beat quickly when he saw 
the pretty dancing girl ! 

“She is just as lovely 
as I thought she was,” he 
told himself, as he gazed 
down at her. “Why, it is 
just as though I had not 
been away.” 

And he fixed his eyes 
upon her. 









Stiff and straight stood the 
soldier, and his heart beat all 
the faster when he saw that the 
dancing lady was looking at him. 

“She remembers. She remembers,” 
he told himself. How very proud 
he felt, in a humble kind of way, 
that he had been through so many 
adventures. 

He thought of his twenty-four 
brothers in their box and he was 
glad he was not in the box with 
them. 

He did not look at the other 
toys on the table, but he knew 
they were there and he wondered 
what they were thinking. 


Surely it must have been one of the most horrid boys in 
the whole world who got the idea of throwing the tiny tin 
soldier into the fire. But that is exactly what happened. 
And at that very same moment, the wind puffed and puffed 
round the pretty dancing lady. It lifted her right off 
her feet. It tossed her straight into the golden flames, 
straight into the arms of the little tin soldier. And slowly, 
slowly, they began to melt together. 


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The little boy of the 
house wept bitterly the 
next morning. 

Where was his twenty- 
fifth tin soldier? 

Where was his pretty 
dancing lady ? 

Then he looked at the 
empty grate, where last 
night the big fire had 
been. 

Sadly, he picked up a 
round, hard lump of tin. 
It was all that was left 
of his tin soldier. And 
then he saw beside it, a 
golden star, and that was 
all that was left of his 
pretty dancing lady. 

But now as he held them 
carefully in his hand, he 
saw that the lump of tin 
was shaped like a heart . . . 
a small, tin heart, a very 
brave heart, and true. 







When Hans Christian Andersen first wrote 
this story of the tin soldier , he called it “The 
Constant Tin Soldier For “ constant 99 is a 
word which means “staying the same. 99 The tin 
soldier really did stay the same. No matter what 
happened to him. he was always brave and true 
and loving. 

Perhaps Hans Andersen was thinking of all 
the real soldiers who came back from the wars 
and who , in spite of their wounds . remained 
cheerful and brave and true to themselves and 
their families. 


@ I960 by Fratelli Fabbri, Milan 
Distributed by Maxton Publishing Corporation, New York 
Printed in Italy 

FAB8RISTAMPA - MILANO 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



000557ZabbA 


This is a Giant Maxton Book 


These are the present stories in this series: 


MY BOOK OF SNOW-WHITE 
MY BOOK OF THE LITTLE TIN SOLDIER 
MY BOOK OF THE SLEEPING BEAUTY 
MY BOOK OF CINDERELLA 
MY BOOK OF THE UGLY DUCKLING 


MY BOOK OF HANSEL AND GRETEL 



